Blueland Guest Goalie: Carey Price

I didn't really give two shits about Carey Price. The first time the Canadiens came to town, I didn't even go and take pictures of him. I hate most Canadiens fans, so therefore I usually hate the team. Then he got injured in December. Upon returning he struggled and took a lot of heat from the media and the fans. He took all kinds of flack for partying and smoking. If I had to be the Montreal Canadiens goalie, I'd smoke, too. God knows I can't resist a wounded goalie, especially when they are as cute as Carey. So when Carey came to Blueland in early March, I had to go and see the little pumpkin. He looked kind of shell shocked.





Carey Price was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on August 16, 1987. Carey was raise in Anahim Lake, British Columbia. Carey's mom, Lynda, Lynda, is the former chief of the Ulkatcho First Nation. His dad is Jerry Price and was also a goalie. Jerry was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1978 NHL draft but was unable to play in the NHL due to injury. His dad is now the the goal tending coach of th Tri-City Americans, Carey's old team. Other family connections...Shane Doan, Phoenix Coyote All Star is his first cousin.





Like most Canadians, Carey started playing hockey early, about age 3. Carey enjoyed playing hockey as a child, but there was not much organized hockey near where he lived. The nearest elite-level hockey was four hours away in Williams Lake, BC. Carey and his dad made the long drive 3 times a week so Carey could play. Well...that just won't do. So, DAD BOUGHT A PLANE. Yeah, Carey's dad bought a plane and flew him there so he could play hockey. WOW! Must be nice.





Price played Triple A minor hockey in Williams Lake before starting his junior career with the Quesnel Millionaires of the BC Hockey League in 2002-03. He played in 11 games that season catching the attention of scouts, which eventually lead up to him being selected 7th overall by the Tri-City Americans in the 2002 WHL Selection Draft

Getting drafted doesn't mean you are going to play. Carey was the Americans 3rd goalie and he only played one game that season. 2003-04 was a little better for Carey as he was the back up. He played 28 games and finished with a 8-9-3 record. He had a 2.38 GAA and had one shutout.





In 2004-05, Carey took over the starting goalie position for the Tri-City Americans. He played in 63 games and finished the year with a 24-31-8 record also playing the second most minutes in the WHL. He finished in the top 10 in all goalies with a 2.34 GAA and .920 save percentage. He also had 8 shutouts.

In 2005, Carey was drafted in the first round (5th over all) by the Montreal Canadiens. Despite being drafted, the 25-06 was not the best season for Carey statistically. He had a 2.87 GAA and a .906 save percentage. Even though he had a record of 21-25-3, his team still made the playoffs.

2006-07 was a good year for Carey. He finished the season and his career with the Americans with a 30-13-1 record. With a 2.45 GAA and a .917 save percentage, he was named the WHL's Goal Tender of the year.

Carey signed with the Montreal Canadiens in 2007. After his successful season and career with the Americans were over, he joined the Hamilton Bulldogs for the remaining 3 games of their regular season. He led the team on to win the Calder Cup that season.

On October 1, 2007 Carey Price was named the starting goalie for the Montreal Canadiens for the 2007-08 season. Carey made his NHL debut on October 10, 2007 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He made 26 saves and led the Canadiens to a 3-2 win. Carey played well and was given the Molson Cup (an award given to the player with the most first-star selections) for October. Carey was re-assigned to the Hamilton Bulldogs in January, but was called back up shortly over a month later. In February, the Canadiens traded Cristobal Huet to Washington and made Carey their starting goalie. He was 20 years old.

The Canadiens had put all of their faith in Carey and and he answered. After becoming the starting goalie, Carey started 14 more games to close the season with a 11-3-0 record. He helped clinched a playoff berth for the lead the Canadiens to the first place spot in the eastern conference. The Canadiens faced the Boston Bruins in the first round of the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Carey led the team to a series victory and registered 2 shutouts. The Canadiens went on to loose the next series to the Philadelphia Flyers.

With such a good 2007-08 season, expectations for Carey for the 2008-09 season were high. This was Montreal's 100th anniversary and mania had over taken the city. Carey began the season on fire posting a 11-4-4 record in the opening months of the season. A lingering bought with the flu caused problems for him early in the season. He then suffered the dreaded "lower body injury" and missed a few more games. After missing 6 games due to injury and illness, Carey was ready to come back. Things were going his way when he posted a 3-0-1 record in the next few games. Unfortunately the hockey gods weren't smiling on him. An ankle injury in January took him out of the next 8 games.

Carey managed to come back in time to play in the All Star Game, but his slump continued after that. He only won 2 games in his next 10 starts while allowing 5 goals in 5 of them. With Carey struggling coach Guy Carbonnea made the drastic move to bench him for 4 games. This gave Price a chance to watch the game from the sidelines and get try and come back fresh. Carey did come back after Jaroslav Halak came down with the flu. Carey managed to close the season with a 5-4-4 record and secured the 8th seed in the playoffs.

The playoffs didn't go well for Montreal (how'd that 100 years thing work out??) and definitely for Price. Crazy expectations for a season he was already struggling in just wore Carey down. Boston swept the Canadiens out of the playoffs. In game 4 the Habs fans actually taunted taunted Price with the sing song "Caaareeey....Caarreeey" and even boo'ed him. Carey had finally had enough and did his Patrick Roy impersonation reminding the city of how they helped run another talented goal tender out of the city. You never boo your own player. What do I know though, I'm a Thrashers fan in the south, so I couldn't possibly know as much as the classy Montreal fans that boo'ed Carey.






Keep your head up Carey! Don't let those freaking assholes get you down. Like Tim Thomas said, you are the one with the talent to be in the NHL, you've got that on them. You are talented and definitely have the skills to be in the NHL. You just need to get a little confidence back and don't let those fans get to you!